Rants and musings about things political, philosophical, and religious.

Abusing Authority

The issues it raises are quite serious, and startling in their implications. While sheeple are hesitant to believe that our “to protect and serve” police force can be capable of abusing their authority, experience shows just the opposite. Don’t believe me? Then watch this video.

The above-linked article discusses, among other things, the Nazi-like checkpoints we are sometimes subjected to. The abuse of authority in subjecting innocent civilians to unwarranted police enforcement is ludicrous. Just as the PATRIOT Act is shoved in our faces in the name of “fighting terrorism”, so are these checkpoints mandated with the propagandized excuse that they serve only to keep drunk drivers off the road. Infringing upon the liberties of the many to nab the few is a provision omitted from our Constitution, and therefore wrong.

Don’t try to argue “But I’m innocent, so I don’t have anything to worry about!” This argument, which I’ve heard quoted again and again, is so misguided as to almost be frightening in its disclosure of ignorance and apathy. Lovers of liberty throughout the ages have fought for their cause regardless of whether their specific individual rights were being trampled or not. Nobody’s rights should be infringed, and just as I will fight to protect my freedom and rights, so I will fight for those of my brother.

Because of what Thomas Jefferson said…

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

…we better understand what Patrick Henry said:

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

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5 Responses to “Abusing Authority”

As much as I may try, I am yet unable to speak in the same manner as a Prophet of God so I’ll dispense with my words in favor of prophetic utterances from the past. The following excerpts are from talks given during annual, and semi-annual conferences. I’ll attribute them when I have finished.

“Why have prophets of God been commanded to proclaim liberty and lead the battle to preserve freedom? Because freedom is basic to the great plan of the Lord. The gospel can prosper only in an atmosphere of freedom. This fact is confirmed by history, as well as by sacred scriptures. The right of choice–free agency–runs like a golden thread throughout the gospel plan of the Lord for the blessing of his children.”

“To a modern-day prophet the Lord declared that “it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” In a revelation to the restored Church in 1833 the Lord Declared:

“…that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind and is justifiable before me.”

“I, the Lord God, make you free therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.”

“Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.”

“Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.” (D&C 98:5, 8-10.)

“Satan is making war against all the wisdom that has come to men through their ages of experience. He is seeking to overturn and destroy the very foundations upon which society, government, and religion rest. He aims to have men adopt theories and practices which he induced their forefathers, over the ages, to adopt and try, only to be discarded by them when found unsound, impractical, and ruinous. He plans to destroy liberty and freedom–economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed man. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize him or his methods….Without their knowing it, the people are being urged down paths that lead only to destruction. Satan never before had so firm a grip on this generation as he has now.” (“Message of the First Presidency ,” The Improvement Era, Nov. 1942, p. 761.)

These comments were made by then Elder Ezra Taft Benson on Sunday afternoon in 1966, and the theme of his remarks were taken from the opening address by President David O. McKay at the Friday morning session.

During that period of time most of the people of the United States of America were acutely aware that communism was making inroads into our society. In reality the followers of this satanic secret combination had been at work for many years prior to this time.

I will now continue with further comments by Elder Benson concerning a military officer who is, in my opinion of the same spiritual stature as one who came to the earth much later to take part in the founding of our constitutional form of government. I speak humbly of General Moroni, and President George Washington respectively.

Elder Benson goes on to say that: “The Book of Mormon pays tribute to General Moroni in these words: “And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of perfect understanding, yea a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;…”

“Yea and he was a man who was firm in the faith, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of blood.” (Alma. 48:11, 13.)

“And then Moroni is paid this tribute: “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” (Alma. 48:17.)

Now, part of the reason we may not have sufficient priesthood bearers to save the Constitution let alone to shake the powers of hell, is because unlike Moroni, I fear, our souls do not joy in keeping our country free, and we are not firm in the faith of Christ nor have we sworn with an oath to defend our rights and the liberty of our country.”

In conclusion I sincerely believe this prophetic counsel to be applicable today. In fact, our situation is even more grave, and dangerous. However, we do have the power through the Priesthood of God to come together for the clarion call to arms. With the Standard Works, especially the Book of Mormon, in one hand, and the Framer’s Constitution in the other, there is only victory to be realized. It is my fervent, and sincere prayer that we will all renew our oath, and commitment to follow our beloved Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley toward the Celestial Kingdom of our Heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ. In His Holy Name, Amen.

I read in this morning’s newspaper that Bush issued yet another signing statement that says in effect, that government may open any first class mail whenever it wants without a warrant.

This must be his what, 800th signing statement? (not kidding! last I heard he had issued some 750 of them!) If we could just have the chance to review all these signing statements made by W, I think we would see his real intent, which is to subvert the Constitution and illegally increase the power of the Executive.

Doesn’t it say in the D&C somewhere that experience shows that when someone gets a little authority they unjustifiably always seek for more power?

D&C 121:
39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

I like the “almost all men” part. Say that means 80% (conservatively). At least 80% of our politicians then are apt to exercise unrighteous dominion.

For a couple of days now, I have been musing over this topic, and the post I submitted earlier. While I believe I am completely aware of what is taking place, and I am even aware of how, and why it has been happening, I must admit that the most prominent thoughts vying for the attention of my mind’s eye, were concerned with the so-called War in Heaven.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have a testimony of this war, and I believe I took part in the confrontation. I also like to believe that I was a valiant, and loyal participant in favor of the plan proposed by Jesus, and accepted by our Heavenly Father. It is important to keep in mind that Jesus was, as yet, not the Savior, but was simply the First born spirit son of Heavenly Father. It also seemed clear to me that this war was fought with words, and ideas. We know who proposed the idea which Father rejected, and what resulted after Father made known His decision concerning which plan He favored.

It seems reasonable to postulate that there were probably three basic camps of philosophical thought. Simply put, they
were for, against, and undecided. I believe it is also quite possible that this was the birth of DEBATE. I am unable to declare this theory in absolute terms, but it seems to me we only engaged in dialogue before this contentious period.

I believe Michael led the debate on behalf of Jesus, and Lucifer, of course, sought for his adherents. He likely had his circle of friends just as did Michael. Of course there were others of preeminent stature who could influence those who tended to migrate toward their particular views of the plan. In the end, of course, we know that Lucifer was successful at convincing 1/3 of us to follow him, and the remaining 2/3 chose to reject his plan in favor of that of Jesus. The debate had ended, and Lucifer was unable to accept rejection so he rebelled, and was banished from Father’s presence along with his followers. Anyway, that is how I see it, but I am not finished because in order to get to my point I must offer a little hypothetical into the mix.

I began to wonder what would have happened had Heavenly Father decided not to cast Lucifer, and His other children out of His home.

Our Heavenly Father has developed a level of love, and compassion which is, in my estimation, beyond our current ability to fathom. I believe His heart, as it were, must have been heavily weighed upon by not only the loss of 1/3 of His children for all time, and eternity, but allowing the debate to continue, many more may have been persuaded to turn away from Him, and our Elder Brother, and yet to be Savior, Jesus the Christ. He simply could not permit that to happen because his concern was for our eternal well being, and not His own. Knowing us as He does, it is possible we all could have eventually been persuaded to unwisely, and unwittingly opt for the end to our progression.

We were given the opportunity here in the United States to have a form of government which was divinely inspired, and blessed. We were also given the charge to protect, and defend it through principles which are based upon the the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Initially we were, for the most part, doing what we had been encouraged to do. We were a young nation struggling to maintain our daily lives as individuals, and family units, and we were succeeding steadily, albeit slowly. Of course, as time went by we were constantly being blessed for our obedience to the Gospel principles both as individuals, and families as well as a nation.

Scriptural, and secular history has clearly indicated what becomes of most people when they have an abundance of material, or worldly possessions. Our collective opulence began to cause many of us to feel more blessed than others. Of course we know Heavenly does not respect any individual person, but He does love us all equally. Consequently when those more opulent in our communities began to display their niceties, many of us desired them too. Unfortunately, we had not all been given the same talents, and we could not acquire the same things through industry, and craft so we decided to accept our lot, and move on. Well, many of the so-called rich, and famous among us ran out of ideas as to how they could have it all, and there are some who are determined to have exactly that, until they finally happened upon the solution.

The solution is called socialism. Due to the Supreme Court usurping the powers originally vested in the people by mysteriously finding interpretive reasons to declare rights that were neither given us by our Creator, nor were they to be found in the original Framer’s Constitution. Of course human nature being what it is we didn’t want to cut off the supply of largess our beloved leaders were allowing us to have, and in such an easy manner to boot, so we elected many of them to public office so they could perhaps find even more benefits. “Don’t forget the poor our leaders clamored.” “Just leave it to us, and we will all reach utopia, and surely we will do it if you will just keep believing in us, and accepting what we say, and never attempt to stop us in our tracks by saying you are going too far, and that is not in keeping with the Lord’s plan, nor is it to be found in the Constitution.”

At this point I must confess that if I continue on with this rant I’ll become bogged down in repetition, and nonsensical comparisons so I’ll conclude by saying that we arrived at where we are today through neglect, and complacency. We have also been duped by the adversary, and his minions both spiritual, and physical into accepting the plan of destruction by way of the path of least resistance.

The scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, are replete with accounts of the secret combinations using flattery, and fear to first weaken, then control, then destroy anyone who would dare to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as being superior to any plan the adversary may devise.

I hope anyone who may read this post will first forgive my constant attempts to get you to back away from joining the worldly debate as to which political party is to blame for the mess we find ourselves in today. I also hope you will be able to glean something valuable, in your search for answers, from my clumsy, and inept story telling. As I reread my words I felt I had gone too far into the realm of opinion, and away from sound doctrine, and constitutional understanding, but decided to post them anyway.

Finally, I’ll leave you with the following words of wisdom from both Church Leaders, and Prophets, as well as some of those men who established our inspired Constitution, and formula for success:

“When the RIGHTEOUS rule, the people rejoice; when the WICKED rule, the people groan.” (Proverbs 29:2)

“PROVIDENCE has given to our people the CHOICE of their RULERS. It is the DUTY, as well as the PRIVILEGE and interest, of our CHRISTIAN NATION to SELECT and PREFER CHRISTIANS for their RULERS.” (John Jay (1745-1829), Original Chief-Justice of the United States Supreme Court, President of the American Bible Society)

“Let it be IMPRESSED on your mind that God COMMANDS you to choose for rulers just men who rule in the fear of God (Exodus 18:21)…..If the CITIZENS NEGLECT THEIR DUTY and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted…..If government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens NEGLECT DEVINE COMMANDS, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” (Noah Webster (1758-1843), Founding Father, Educator)

“The history of all mankind shows very clearly that if we would be free–we must STAND ETERNAL WATCH against the accumulation of too much power in government.” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Sunday Morning Session, October, 1958.)

“Concerning the United States, the Lord revealed to his prophets that its greatest threat would be a vast, WORLDWIDE “secret combination” which would not only threaten the United States but also seek to “overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations,” (Ether 8:25.)

“In connection with the attack on the United States, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by DESTROYING the Constitution.”

“It is my conviction that the ELDERS OF ISRAEL, widely spread over the nation will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our country and PROVIDE THE NECESSARY BALANCE OF STRENGTH TO SAVE THE INSTITUTIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Saturday Afternoon Session, October 1961)

“Today the devil as a wolf in a supposedly new suit of sheep’s clothing is enticing some men, both in and out of the Church, to parrot his line by advocating planned government guaranteed security programs at the expense of our liberties. Latter-day Saints should be reminded how and why they voted as they did in heaven. If some have decided to change their vote they should repent–throw their support on the side of freedom–and cease promoting this subversion.” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Saturday Afternoon Session, October, 1961)

About the Author

Connor Boyack is president of Libertas Institute, a public policy think tank in Utah. He is the author of several books along with hundreds of columns and articles championing individual liberty. Connor's work has been publicly praised by national figures such as Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and many others.

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